Brazil Sees Nearly Twice the TNBC Cases as Ten Years Ago

From the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, Via the Peer Review Media Guide:

TNBC cases in Brazil have nearly doubled in the past ten years. Researchers analyzed data of 439 women diagnosed with breast cancer at the Núcleo Mama Moinhos breast cancer clinic from 2000 to 2010 and compared patient characteristics in two 5-year periods: 2000 to 2005 and 2006 to 2010. They discovered that cases of hormone-positive had decreased, while triple-negative had increased. TNBC cases in women older than 50 increased and tumors were larger at diagnosis.

"We have no idea why we are seeing more of these cases," said Maira Caleffi, MD, PhD, Associação Hospitalar Moinhos de Vento, Porto Alegre, Brazil, on December 10. "The increase in triple-negative and hormone-negative tumours in women older than 50 is worrisome and does not reflect the common sense that the large majority of cases in this age group are hormone sensible."

Read the entire article here.